Each commencement ceremony is held indoors at the ONU Field House365体育手机投注 located in the ONU King-Horn Sports Center at the northwest corner of campus.

365体育手机投注Parking will be available in lots on the north side of the Sports Center and to the north of Meyer Hall as well as in perimeter parking lots. These areas may be reached by West Lincoln Avenue. Security personnel will be available for assistance. Parking for persons with special needs will be provided on the north side of the Sports Center.

Courtesy vans will provide transportation from McIntosh Center and perimeter parking lots to the Sports Center beginning at 7 a.m. for Pharmacy commencement and at noon for undergraduate commencement on Sunday, May 10 only.

Please review the Campus Map for additional details.
 

365体育手机投注Pharmacy commencement guests should be at the field house by 8 a.m. and in their seats by 8:30 a.m.

Undergraduate commencement guests should be at the field house by 1 p.m. and in their seats by 1:30 p.m.

365体育手机投注Law commencement guests are also encouraged to arrive by 1 p.m. so that all can be seated by 1:30 p.m.

All guests, regardless of ceremony, are requested to remain in their seats throughout the ceremony except when photographs are taken of a graduating student.

The University has arranged for each graduate to be photographed receiving the diploma. For the convenience of guests wishing to take their own photographs, a posted area is provided on the north side of the platform (to the audience’s left) for this purpose. In order to reduce congestion in this area, guests are requested to plan their entrance into the area approximately three to five graduates ahead of the one they wish to photograph and to return to their seats immediately after taking their photographs.

In consideration of others in the audience, guests are requested to take photographs during the ceremony only in the posted area. Photographs of graduates in procession must be taken as the procession is moving into the field house since students will not leave the field house in procession. Photographs may be taken on the platform following the ceremony for those wishing to do so. Family members are invited to meet the graduates in the field house directly following the recessional for these photographs.

After the ceremony, family and guests are welcome to take photos wherever they like on campus. Some popular locations for post-graduation photos are the Ohio Northern University sign in front of Lehr Memorial, the statue of Henry Solomon Lehr between the Hill and the Dicke buildings, the fountains in front of McIntosh Center and the Freed Center, and the ONU Spirit Rock.

All commencement ceremonies are held indoors and all activities will take place as scheduled.

After each ceremony, there are receptions for the colleges scheduled to begin approximately 15 minutes after the commencement recessional. The College of Pharmacy reception for graduates and their guests will be held in the Robertson-Evans Pharmacy Building, the reception for the College of Arts & Sciences will be held in the middle gym of the Sports Center, the Dicke College of Business Administration will gather for a reception in Dicke Hall, and the College of Engineering will meet in the Lehr Kennedy Engineering Building. The College of Law reception for graduates and their guests will be held in Tilton Hall. Please consult the Campus Map for location details.

Parking for persons with special needs will be provided on the north side of the Sports Center. Special seating will be provided for those with physical impairments. Please contact an usher for assistance if needed.

365体育手机投注Babysitting and nursery services for pre-school children of guests will be provided during the commencement ceremonies in the Sports Center. These services will be available from 7:30-11 a.m. for pharmacy commencement, 12:30-4:30 p.m. for undergraduate commencement, and 12:30-3:30 p.m. for law commencement.

A nurse will be available onsite in the training room of the Sports Center  from 7:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the day of Pharmacy, Undergraduate and MSA commencements. A nurse will be available from 12:30-3:30 p.m. during Law Commencement. Ushers are available for assistance.

The McIntosh Center help desk will be staffed during commencement weekends. The hours are as follows:

Undergraduate/Pharmacy Commencement weekend

• Friday, May 8 from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m.
• Saturday, May 9 from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 10 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.

Law Commencement weekend

• Friday, May 15 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m.
• Saturday, May 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
• Sunday, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

The bookstore hours during commencement are as follows:

Undergraduate/Pharmacy Commencement weekend
Friday, May 8 from 9 a.m. to 4:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 9 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m.
365体育手机投注 Sunday, May 10 from 10 to 2 p.m.

Law Commencement weekend
Friday, May 15 from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m.
Saturday, May 16 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.
Sunday, May 17 from 11 a.m. to 1 p.m.

Visit the online.
 

Pharmacy and Undergraduate Commencement Weekend

Cosi at Northern (Main Street adjacent to campus)

• Saturday, May 9 from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.
• Sunday, May 10 from 7:30 a.m. to 8 p.m.

365体育手机投注President's Commencement Dinner

• Families are invited to join their graduates at the President’s Commencement Dinner at McIntosh Center on Saturday, May 9, at 6 p.m. Advanced registration and tickets are required. .

Law Commencement Weekend

365体育手机投注Cosi at Northern (Main Street adjacent to campus)

• Saturday, May 16 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.
• Sunday, May 17 from 7:30 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

The Inn at ONU
365体育手机投注 Sunday, May 17: Commencement Brunch,* 10:30 a.m. to Noon

• Graduating law students are guests of the Pettit College of Law at no charge.
• Adults $19.95, children 4-13 $8.95, children 3 and under are free.

A $10 discount is applied for an in-house guest who presents a valid Inn-breakfast coupon

*Reservations and prepayment are required. For reservations, please call 419-772-4112.

Commencement 2021

• Law Commencement Ceremony – Saturday, May 15, 2021, at 10 a.m.
• Pharmacy Commencement Ceremony – Sunday, May 16, 2021, at 9 a.m.
• Undergraduate and MSA Commencement Ceremony – Sunday, May 16, 2021, at 2 p.m.

Awarding academic degrees to signify reaching a certain level in a branch of learning goes back at least eight centuries, even prior to the creation of universities. In the twelfth century, large bodies of students would gather together in one place, as they did in Paris and Bologna. In such a scholarly milieu, some naturally decided on a career in teaching.

Their first step was to become baccalaureus, a step which preceded by several years permission to teach. Following more years of study, the student was admitted to a select circle of teachers through a series of special initiation rites. The installation in a teaching post followed practices of Roman Law among students in Paris. Some vestiges of the ceremony are seen in today’s commencement exercises, namely the investment with a square cap. The new master would embark upon his teaching career with his first lecture, his inceptio, meaning commencement.

From these origins has come our commencement, a special academic ceremony for the purpose of awarding degrees, which begins and ends with an academic procession. As a descendant of clerical processions of the churches, it is carried out with great dignity and impressiveness. All participants wear the academic regalia appropriate to their highest degree. Faculty members process in order of their academic rank, with senior full professors first, followed by their colleagues of successively lower rank. The procession is formed in ranks of two except for special dignitaries or honorees who may walk alone. The entire procession is headed by a senior faculty member bearing an ornate institutional banner and another serving as grand marshal and carrying the institutional mace, a traditional emblem of authority of the bearer.

The high point of the commencement program is the awarding of degrees. Placing a hood on the shoulders of the graduate is the time-honored gesture denoting the investiture of the degree. Since this practice is most often retained solely for advanced degrees in contemporary commencement exercises, today’s bachelor’s degree recipients symbolize the hooding through the simple act of moving the tassel on the cap from the right to the left side. Only a few institutions maintain the practice — as we do at Ohio Northern University — of the President of the University placing the diploma in the hand of the candidate.

Evolving culture and customs have changed the details of awarding degrees. Yet it remains a rich and memorable experience for participants and witnesses, a ceremony sensitive to tradition and conveying great significance in the lives of the new graduates.

Academic attire dates back at least to the 14th century. Its origin is attributed to ecclesiastical influence, to the need for warmth in unheated rooms used by medieval scholars, and to avoidance of “excess in apparel” by wearing a long gown. Ultimately, there developed distinctive caps, gowns and hoods denoting the institution that granted the degree, the field of learning in which the degree was earned, and the level of the degree –bachelor, master or doctorate.

American universities, unlike those of England and Europe, have adopted a standard code of academic costume in which the cut and material of the gown, the color of the tassel on the cap, and the pattern and colors of the hood all have special significance.

Bachelors’ gowns are closed at the throat and have long, pointed sleeves. Masters’ gowns may be worn open or closed and have long, oblong sleeves, square and closed at the end, the arms coming through slits near the wrist. Doctors’ gowns, worn open or closed, are faced with velvet and have full, bell-shaped sleeves. Each sleeve carries three bars of velvet, called chevrons. Trustees, presidents and marshals of colleges or universities may wear caps and gowns that are especially designed and colored.

Academic caps are usually mortarboards, though soft caps are also worn. The cap is black; the tassel is black or the color appropriate to the discipline or field of study, or, for a doctor’s cap, it may be gold.

The hood gives color and real meaning to the academic costume. The color of the lining identifies the university granting the highest degree held by the wearer. The color of the trim indicates the field of learning in which the degree is received.